I just wanted to start a general thread about how you name fictional species, places, inventions, anything. I'm someone who personally struggles with naming a lot, so I wanted to hear people's advice, methodology, or just general conversation about it.
How did you come up with names for things? Did you use a generator, copy a real place, or make something up entirely?
Personally I like to reference based off real life, but it can be super restrictive sometimes. For species names, I've found that looking at biology suffixes, prefixes, and root words does help… I haven't found a way of naming species, not referencing real life, without them sounding obviously fake.
I used to struggle with naming a lot, but now it’s (fairly) easy for me.
In terms of characters, I look at the sort of culture they live in, as well as the time period (would it be realistic for them to have a surname? some real world cultures do not have surnames!)
For one of my more recent projects (which is..still unnamed…) I came up with a naming system inspired by how some cultures will change the endings of a last name depending on the child’s gender.
en (child of)
vin (son of)
mon (daughter of)
so to put it to work, an important character is Siirawyn Joselvin - this means his surname is Son of Josel. and so on, if he were to have a child, his child’s surname would be Siiraen, or whatever ending is given. (in a more recent development I might consider doing a patronymic name, although that would require me to do more development on the Joselvin family tree)
As for the first names, since this is a story with a somewhat medieval setting to it, I typically use medieval sounding names. however, since the world has Slavic and Germanic influences, I would also take inspiration from those groups as well.
https://www.mithrilandmages.com/utilities/MedievalBrowse.php
https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/medieval-slavic
i might mix and match!
Also, as someone who loves creating creatures, here’s how I typically name my little dudes:
https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/alien-names.php (I use this website a lot in general)
I typically hit generate, but when I’m given the names I usually don’t just take from what’s been given; like I said before, I mix and match. For me, one of the names I received was
Orgeds and Thruls; I would take Or and put it on top of Thruls to make…
Orthruls
Of course, another method is to think about the history of that species - who discovered it? Sometimes species (places, too) are named (or at least nicknamed) after the individual who discovered it!
- what traits to the species have? you could always go the route of taking this trait, translating it to another language, and there, that’s your name. (although this method may only make sense if it takes place in a world where the language does exist)
Going back to the character I mentioned before, Siirawyn - that’s a name I actually made up in my head. So sometimes, when naming things, I just think for a while, and eventually the idea does come out. So sometimes I do make up things.
That last name structuring is really cool!! I always forget to account for things like that to be honest, so I can really admire how in depth that level of worldbuilding is on your part.
I love Behind the Name, it's a super useful tool especially when naming characters appropriately for their age (such as names that were popular in the 80s). When doing a story based on a certain time frame (like, as you mentioned, medieval times), I always like to look at whatever little documentation I can find online about popular names at the time… although, that doesn't always give the character a very unique name.
I really like the idea of mixing and matching randomly generated names for creatures too!! You gave some super helpful methods.
(Also, Siirawyn is a really nice name :D)
I tend to either look up word roots and synonyms, or run a word through google translate to a different language and snip parts of them off to make names. Or I just look up straight up name generators
One approach that I've found helpful is to use a combination of real-life references and creative invention. For example, when naming a fictional species, I might look at the characteristics of the species and see if there are any real-life animals that have similar traits. I might then take the name of that animal and alter it slightly to create a unique, yet still believable, name for my fictional species.
For instance, let's say I'm creating a species of bird-like creatures that are known for their strong beaks and powerful wings. I might look at real-life birds like eagles or hawks, and use their names as a starting point. From there, I might play around with the spelling or add a suffix or prefix to create something like "eagron" or "hawlike." This way, the name feels grounded in reality, but still has a fantastical twist to it.
okay, so i have this species named Achrachnibs. you'll never guess what they are.
Spider hybrids. Spider Human Hybrids.
